Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-15

before any had been determined on, a
event occurred which seemed to be Quit
IS prOvidential as the railway accident
This was the appearance in a mornin:
paper OF an advertisement for q priyst
secretary, directing the applicant to Csl
ct the street and number where Mr.
Smith lived. A suitable Officer havin!
been selected, he was st once dispatched
to that gentleman's address. Mr.. Smitl
had en- interview with him; and after
period OF uncertainty he had the distinc
ton of being selected from among g con
siderable number of other candidates.
The new secretary lost no time in en-
tering UPON his duties-both those
enjOlned by Mr.. Smith and those in tls
( interest Of the Central Office. The former
were Of somewhat singular character
Mr.. Smith, it appeared, was collector
and his collection certainly hsd the merit
Of beng On odd one. One psrt OF it-that
with which the new secretary was directly
cOnCerned-WGs series OF scrap books
thirty or more in number, containing
cuttings from various newspapers, dating
from ter years back to the pass
ing day. These clippings were sll de-
'criptions Of crime committed in New
YORK, with their attendant circumstances
and consequences. All the crimes ia the
calendar, and many out OF it, were rep
resented, and great pains had been taken
to arrange and classify them, and TO index
the volumes. Mr.. Smiths idea, 10 aid in
the realization Of which ne had hired 9
secretary, was to compile volume TO be
entitled "A Decade Of Metropolitan
49, 10 - IL
these excerpts, accompanied by original
comments and disquisltionS. He had a.
ready composed . lengthy Introduction
and written forty CT fifty pOges of the
book itself, but he had, as he explained
70 the secretary, found the mechanical
labor of writing 200 WeaTisOme, ana had
therefore decided to employ al assistant
who could copy out such portions of the
printed slips Is were designated for that
purpose and write the rest at Mr.. Smiths
dictstjon.
Evidently here was employment for q
dligent secretary sufficient to last him
IN indefinite number of years, and GER
tain at the liberal salary paid By Mr..
SMITH to give him competence for life.
But inasmuCh as the requirements of the
Central office demanded pr0mptness il
the discharge of cheir part of the sr
rahsomept: the secretary gave st least as
much pains to gaining the good will and
confidence Of his employer as to the COM
position OF the "DeCsde." Mr.. Smith
had more than the usal Yslietv of authors,
and as the secretary did not tzll i?ta the
memorable error committed by Gil BIS
their relations soon became cordial. The
seCretaTy's employer showed q really
surprising familiarity both with the
crimes aud the criminals of New York,
and after few days conversation on
the SUBJECT, and ss mark Of special
favor, he introduced him to g hitherto
unsupported feature Of his collection.
This was contained IN g couple o.
chests Of drawers, such IS natuTalists
sometimes use for the preservation Of
their specimens. The drawers were
shsllow and were divided into numerous
compartments, in each of which was an
"obiectnWith descriptive label attached.
These objects we're nothing less than az
assortment Of what may be termed GRIM
inal relics. Here was the revolver or the
knife with which g murder was commit
ted, bit of rope with which the muir
derer was hanged, pair OF handouts
used 81 the arrest of g noted thief,
blaCkmaiiing letter sen. to a distinguished
public man, check signed With @ forged
signature, g vial which had contained
prussic acid used by q suicide, q watch
stolen from Che pocket of Judge Of
the Supreme court, diamond breast
pin fllChed from the bosom CT well
known belle in New York society, On az
archist Internal machine with the explo-
siya extrsctedl, . counterfeit SO bill,
ard so Oil without end Each specimen
wss identified with its proper crime: snd
Mr.. Smith observed that ne proposed 10
to be used as illustrations for the "Da-
cade"
After examining this strange assem-
bl&ge OF articles, the secretary expressed
as to now MIR. Smith hsd be-
come possessed of them. Some Of them,
such as the watch and pin, being stolen
were really not legally OBTAIN
able.
"Wen," replied Mr.. Smith, with
smile, cit is said that collectors have no
apd l suppose | am not much
better than the others. Ia the first plsce,
have generally sCquired q very extern
sive acquaintance among professional
criminals: | know about all that there
are in New York, from the poorest pick
pocket up to the highest class bank
burglar; end they know me and what /
am after. The way il first came about
was this There was a robbery COM
mi,ted in the city about g dozen years
ego that wss particularly bold gad iDgen-
iOus; and when they caught the thief l
went to see him in the TOmbs, found him
an amusing fellow, paid for q lawyer TO
defend hlm, and GOT him acquitted. He
seemed 10 feel grstifed by my interests
and we have been friends ever since, 1
though just ct present he is in atriCt
in another part of the country,
That acquaintance led to others; I'm
on friendly terms with I'll Of them,
zud every once and awhile l get
an addition from one of them TO
my collection. If they get hold of
anything they think l would like, they
irop me word, and 90 round and lock
st it, and If it suits me buy it, and pay
what they ask for it can afford to.
Ind them very entertaining company On
heir own account, too, and often, when
hear of any new scheme being on foot,
get few of them together and listen to
hem talk it over. It's better fun than
society or club life, or the thea
stre, or any Of those stsle, commonplace
.hIngs. l never give them away, snd
1 give them lift when they
ret into trouble; but it's understood
hat I never have anything to do with
my Of their Jobs; so we run along very
and there's no harm done to
anybody"
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